Springfield Falcons vow to improve

Republican file photoTom Sestito of the Springfield Falcons stuffs the puck behind Portland Pirates goalie Jhonas Enroth, during the first period at the Cumberland County Civic Center in Portland earlier this month. Sestito leads Springfield in scoring.

One step forward, another step back.

That's a theme the Springfield Falcons vow they will change as they wrap up the first month of the American Hockey League season. The Falcons stand 4-4 after eight games and the feeling in the locker room is they are better than a .500 team.

"It's all about work ethic and staying focused,'' foward Chad Kolarik said. "We're going to good, we just can't keep going back and forth and stay at .500.''

The Falcons split a pair of home games last weekend beating the Portland Pirates 6-2 on Friday, followed by a 3-1 loss on Saturday night against the Manchester Monarchs.

The Falcons had 13 of their 18 skaters register at least a point in their 6-2 win on Friday night over Portland. Tomas Kubalik and Chris Francis each scored their first pro goals, while Tyler Murovich, Tom Sestito, Michael Blunden and Maksim Mayorov also scored for the Falcons.

Kolarik had one goal and two assists in two games last weekend. He had a pair of assists on Friday against Portland and scored his third goal of the year on Saturday against Manchester.

"We want to find a way to play a full 60 minutes, I know it's a cliche but that's something we have to do moving forward," Kolrik said. "We battled back hard, but we can't keep falling behind, we have a good team here and we will keep working hard."

Michael Blunden continued his strong play with one goal and two assists in two games over the weekend. Blunden leads the Falcons in goals with five and is second on the club in scoring with eight points in eight games.

Tom Sestito recorded at least a point in both games this past weekend collecting one goal and one assist in two games. Sestito leads the Falcons in scoring with four goals and five assists in eight games.

Goaltender David LeNeveu started both games last weekend and he now leads the Falcons in minutes played (243) and goals against average (2.22).

The Falcons and Hartford Wolf Pack meet for the first time this season when they get together for a home and home series this weekend. The Falcons and Wolf Pack are currently tied for third place in the Atlantic Division with eight points each through eight games played. Hartford has a record of 3-3-1-1 on the young season.

Hartford, which will change its name to the Connecticut Whale next month, also is a young team going through growing pains.

Kris Newbury leads the Wolf Pack in scoring with eight assists and eight points in eight games played. Right wing Jeremy Williams is leading the Wolf Pack in goals with four and is second in scoring with six points, but he is currently on recall to the NY Rangers.

Defenseman Wade Redden leads all Hartford defensemen in scoring with one goal and five assists for six points in eight games.

Goaltender Chad Johnson has appeared in six of Hartford’s eight games posting a record of 2-3-1 with a 2.48 goals against average and .906 save percentage.

The Falcons have added veteran depth. Forward Mike Ryan was signed to a PTO and defenseman Nate Guenin has been assigned to the Falcons by the Blue Jackets.

Guenin played in three games with the Blue Jackets after being recalled on October 16 and collected no points and two penalty minutes. Guenin played in Springfield’s first four games and tallied two penalty minutes and +1 rating with the Falcons.